Noubar Afeyan fled the Lebanese Civil War with his family as a teenager, immigrating first to Canada and then the United States, before completing his PhD in biochemical engineering at MIT in 1987. He founded and built PerSeptive Biosystems to $100 million in annual revenue before its acquisition, then founded Flagship Pioneering in 2000 with an unusual model for venture capital: inventing companies internally rather than only funding outside founders. His best-known creation is Moderna, which he co-founded in 2010 and has chaired ever since - a company whose mRNA platform, developed years before anyone anticipated a pandemic, became central to the world's COVID-19 response. Afeyan has helped launch more than 70 public and private life sciences and technology companies over his career and was awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation in 2025.
Education
BS, McGill University
PhD, Biochemical Engineering, MIT
Previous Experience
Founder & CEO, PerSeptive Biosystems (grew to $100M annual revenue, acquired by PerkinElmer/Applera)
SVP & Chief Business Officer, Applera, overseeing the creation of Celera Genomics
Founding team member & investor, Chemgenics Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Millennium), Color Kinetics (acquired by Philips), Adnexus Therapeutics (acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb)
Notable Investments
Moderna MRNARubius Therapeutics
Board Seats
Moderna (Chairman)
Career Timeline
1987
Completes his doctoral work in biochemical engineering at MIT.
1998
PerSeptive Biosystems, which he founded and grew to $100 million in annual revenue, is acquired by PerkinElmer/Applera.
2000
Founds Flagship Pioneering in Cambridge.
2010
Co-founds Moderna within Flagship's internal venture creation process.
2018
Moderna goes public on the Nasdaq in December.
2025
Awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation.